[NRA-Cranwell]

On the day President Clinton asked more Americans to turn in their guns, the Executive Director of the National Rifle Association is in Roanoke, with a different view of gun buybacks.
Wayne LaPierre is hosting a rally for Vinton Delegate Dick Cranwell, in his campaign for re-election.
[Double Boxes=Jean & Joe/Starlink]

Joe Dashiell is reporting from the Catawba Community Center tonight, where the two men arrived just a short time ago.
[Live=Joe full/Starlink]
[SUPER=@Joe1;]
[SUPER=06-Roanoke Co.]

Wayne LaPierre is a native of the Roanoke Valley... he says Cranwell is a longtime personal friend, and a friend of Virginia's gun owners.
That was a message he was pleased to deliver on a day when President Clinton called on Congress to pass tougher gun control legislation.
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[SUPER=03-Washington DC; :00]
[SUPER=01-Wayne LaPierre/National Rifle Association; :]
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((The president was flanked by mayors and chiefs of police at the White House as he urged congress to pass what he described as reasonable gun control measures... restricting sales at gun shows, requiring childproof gun locks, and banning the importation of high capacity ammunition clips.
He also announced federal funding to help localities hire more police officers and conduct gun buyback programs.
[SOT CLINTON 14:09:21]
[IN Q=Every gun]
((EVERY GUN TURNED IN THROUGH A BUY BACK PROGRAM MEANS POTENTIALLY ONE LESS TRAGEDY.))
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[OUT Q=one less tragedy.]

But as Wayne LaPierre arrived in Roanoke County to campaign for Dick Cranwell, the executive director of the NRA said...
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[Live=Joe full/Starlink;]
[SUPER=06-Roanoke Co.]

The Catawba Community Center is also the setting for the first debate between Cranwell and his opponent, Republican Al Bedrosian.
[Double Boxes=Jean & Joe/Starlink]

Jean, what we found today is that a number of Virginia cities did gun buyback programs four or five years ago.
But Virginians Against Handgun Violence says the idea's only successful if done a few years apart.
You get a lot of unwanted guns that people may have inherited, or bought and decide they NO longer use.
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[IN Q=It's very]
[SUPER=01-Lt. Col. Fred Russell/Richmond Deputy Police Chief; :00 ]
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[OUT Q=enforcement agencies.]
(( [sot 15:20:44]
((LT. COL. FRED RUSSELL/RICHMOND DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF: IT'S VERY EASY FOR THAT WEAPON TO BECOME PART OF A TRAGEDY. A SMALL CHILD MIGHT FIND THAT WEAPON, OR IT MIGHT BE STOLEN.))
[RUNS=:07]

If it's stolen... it often ends up in the hands of a previous felon.
And it's those folks that Richmond's Project Exile is aimed at.
532 felons or drug users have been indicted for being caught with a gun.
It's getting national media attention.
The city seizes more than a hundred guns a month.
Additionally, some 800 Richmond police officers are replacing their service weapons-- and were worried about what happened to their old guns.
[sot 15:15:58]
((FRED RUSSELL: THE CHIEF WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THAT AND HAS MADE ARRANGEMENTS WITH SIG SAUER...WEAPONS WOULD BE SOLD ONLY TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.))
[RUNS=:16]))
[Live=Ellen Full/Microwave]
[SUPER=05-Richmond]

So back on the issue of gun buybacks, D-C had a surprisingly successful one in August, paying a hundred dollars a pop for more than 23-hundred guns.
But a similar program in Orlando in May ran into a unique problem: people intercepting people on their way to the buyback... and offering them more money than the buyback was offering.
[Double Boxes=Jean & Ellen/Microwave]

Q&A JEAN: But Virginia police aren't against them?
ELLEN: Certainly not. They just can't afford to pay for guns, unless they get private help or the kind of money the President's promising.

[81-Accident]

Witnesses say a car traveling north on the Interstate fishtailed and rolled over between the Troutville and Buchanan exits, just as the skies opened up this afternoon.
Both people inside are now under hospital treatment.
The accident backed up northbound traffic as emergency crews worked to free the victims and remove the wreckage.

[SUPER=84-Down 25.5 feet/Mandatory Restrictions][Homecare-Sting]

It may not SOUND like much of a crime.. small change being taken here.. a couple of dollars there.
But the victim was a disabled, elderly woman.. the alleged thief: her home health care worker.
Steve Smallshaw has the story of how modern technology helped break the case.
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[IN Q=Delois Alexander's]
[SUPER=03-Lexington; :00]
[SUPER=01-Delois Alexander/Victim; :20]
[SUPER=04-Video Courtesy: Lexington Police Dept.; :42]
[SUPER=01-Sgt. Torben Pederson/Lexington P.D.; :56]
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[OUT Q=News7, Lexington.]

(( Delois Alexander's arthritis keeps her from getting around very much.. and she's relied on home health care to help her with daily living for the last ten years.
But recently Alexander started to suspect the woman who was being paid to take care of her was also robbing her blind.
[SOT 13:01:45]
((DELOIS ALEXANDER/VICTIM: I HEARD HER.. ..WHEN I KNEW.))
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[OUT Q=when I knew.]

So Alexander called police.. and despite the small amounts involved, Sergeant Torben Pederson decided this was a case where he could help.
[natsot 13:07:25]
((THIS IS WHERE WE HAD THE CHANGE TRAY..))
[RUNS= 04]

Pederson set up a hidden camera in Alexander's bedroom and caught the worker.. 57- year- old Hazel Wingler.. on tape, allegedly stealing change, cash and clothing on seven different occasions.
[SOT 13:03:21]
((ALEXANDER: I DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO THINK.. ... SOME OF 'EM.))
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[OUT Q=some of 'em.]
[SOT 13:10:48]
((SGT. TORBEN PEDERSON/LEXINGTON P.D.: THIS IS THEIR HOME.. ..BEING VIOLATED.))
[RUNS= 08]
[OUT Q=being violated.]

Both Alexander and Pederson hope the case will encourage other house-bound patients to speak up if they feel they've been victims at the hands of their in-home help.
Stonewall Jackson Hospital, which runs the HomeHealth Care program, has apologized for the incident and is cooperating with police in their investigation.
Steve Smallshaw, News7, Lexington.))
[Tease#1]
[HARD MUSIC UNDER]
[ANCHOR=Keith]
[SS=NONE]

Reports of its death were greatly exaggerated. Still ahead on News 7, a long-time restaurant gets a new life.

[Tultex]

Tultex plans to sell or find some other use for its customer service center in Henry County. Word came just over an hour ago.
About 400 people work there now.
Tultex says it hopes any new owner would keep the same number of employees
The company says it can save money by shipping its apparel directly from its factories outside the country, instead of from the warehouse.

[Ed-Center]

[ANCHOR=Jean]
[NEWSCAST=6pm]
[WRITER=jsu]
[TAPE#=99-32 50:58]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Plans to turn the old Norfolk and Western office building into a Higher Education Center --- are one step closer
to completion.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

The Higher Education Board reviewed bids for the project today.
The lowest bidder was about 500-thousand dollars over the budgeted 13 million dollars the board expects to pay for the renovations.
But the board says it is confident the project will progress. Board members will spend the next few days negotiating with the contractor.
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[SOT 10:16:01]
[IN Q=To see if we can't reduce]
((THOMAS MC KEON/ROANOKE HIGHER EDUCATION AUTHORITY: TO SEE IF WE CAN'T REDUCE THE PRICE A LITTLE BIT BY MAKING SOME CHANGES IN THE SPECIFICATIONS AND HOPEFULLY BY THE END OF THAT PERIOD AND WE'LL COME UP WITH A NUMBER THAT WE CAN AGREE TO AND MOVE FORWARD ON THE PROJECT))
[SUPER=07-Thomas McKeon]
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[OUT Q=project forward]
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[VO-NAT]

The board is hoping to award the contract on September 16th and start renovations right away, in hopes of opening th

e Center in the fall of next year. [Little-Chef]

The landmark diner closed in July, unable to compete with bigger chains.
Now new managers have re-opened the restaurant- adding more sandwiches and appetizers to the menu.
A new chef is adding her own twist to that famous sausage gravy.
Waitresses who've been at the Little Chef for years are back on the job.
Soon they may be serving a special sauce -- the Little Chef has applied for a liquor license.
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[SUPER=434-ia/15*/he/65d/h!/36e/ib/79r/h#/47$;][Switched-Babies]

The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected Paula Johnson's attempt to prevent a settlement for her biological daughter, Rebecca Chittum.
Chittum was switched at birth at the UVA Medical Center.
Johnson was appealing a judge's approval of an 875-thousand dollar settlement for the 4-year-old Buena Vista girl.

[Casting-Call]

[ANCHOR=jean]
[NEWSCAST=6pm]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=99-31 54:34]
[GRAPHIC=None]
[**NOTE--ANCHOR TAG**]
It may not make be a big Hollywood production.
But a film that's being shot in Blacksburg next week is creating a stir among those with the acting bug.
Teresa Hamilton explains.
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[IN Q= Nat sound]
[SUPER=03-Blacksburg; :05]
[SUPER=01-Denius Garcia/Aspiring Actor; :24]
[SUPER=01-Philip Gettel/Aspiring Actor; :47]
[SUPER=@Teresa2; 1:00 ]
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[OUT Q=NEWS 7, Blacksburg.]
(( Kurt Wise was among the crowd that showed up hoping to win a role in the one hour film about millionaires Robert Pamplin, Junior and his father.
So why-- Blacksburg?
The answer is easy-- both father and son attended Virginia Tech.
In fact, much of the film will center on the younger Pamplin's life as a Cadet, back in 1961.
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[sot 10:53:18]
[in q= i'm an ]
((DENIUS GARCIA/ASPIRING ACTOR: I WANT TO BE AN ACTOR, MY SISTER'S OUT IN HOLLYWOOD NOW, SHE'S ACTING AND I PRETTY MUCH WANT TO FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS.))
[RUNS= 07]
[OUT Q= her footsteps.]

The film's casting director is searching for extras to portray Tech students--as they would have looked in the 60's.
They're also looking for folks in their 40's and 50's to play the role of parents.
The search is also on for a General.
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[sot]
[in q= It takes ]
((PHILIP GETTEL/ASPIRING ACTOR: IT TAKES PRACTICE, YOU CAN'T JUST WALK IN THERE AND BE REAL COMFORTABLE WITH IT BECAUSE THEY'RE LOOKING FOR A CERTAIN TYPE OF PERSON.))
[RUNS= 10]
[OUT Q= of person.]

The movie will likely leave its mark on campus-- But in no way will it match the impact the Pamplin family continues to make.
Over the years the family's donated nearly 30- million dollars to the university.
Teresa Hamilton, NEWS 7, Blacksburg.))
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[ANCHOR=Jean]
[SS=None]

Casting will continue tomorrow and Saturday at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center on campus.
By the way-- Corbin Bernsen has been tapped to play the elder Pamplin.

[S-Hunter]

Hunter was recently in the valley as the guest speaker for the Salem Hall of Fame Banquet in 1998.
In 15 years he won five World Series rings with the Yankees and A's. He had five straight 20 win seasons over one stretch and pitched a perfect game.
Hunter was the first of baseball's multi-millionaire free agents and his New York contract of 4 million dollars over 5 years broke new ground.
Hunter was 53.
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